1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a one-way form of barrel-shaped, balloon cushioning package that is particularly characterized by including an air inlet defined by a check valve formed by superposing two film pieces one upon another and bonding them together along two bonding lines.
2. Prior Art
When an article is likely to be deformed or damaged by contacting or colliding with another article, handling means, etc. during delivery, transportation or other handling, it is packaged in a double walled bag package that is made up of outer and inner films and can be inflated by admitting air between them.
When placed in this package, the article is surrounded with an air layer which prevents it from contacting or colliding with another article, etc. and absorbs external force applied to it, thereby preventing it from being damaged or otherwise deformed. In this regard, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,155,453 and 4,240,556 specifications, for instance.
After the above conventional bag package has been loaded with the article, it is inflated to an internal pressure of 1 atmosphere or more by feeding an amount of air into it, so that the inner film can bear on the article to fix the article centrally in the bag package; that is, the article can apparently be made integral with the bag package, so that any incident forces cannot be applied on the article, making its delivery, transportation and handling easy.
However, a grave problem with such a conventional bag package is that the air inlet is made of a material different from that forming the outer film and extends slightly beyond the outer film; when the package is inflated to a given internal pressure by feeding an amount of air into it, it is most unlikely to tear up or otherwise cause damage to the outer film of other package, such as when it is placed in a container for transportation.
Mounting air inlets to bag packages is not only troublesome but needs a number of steps as well.
It is thus an object of this invention to provide a cushioning package which provides an improved sealing to an article to be loaded in it and includes a check valve designed to be apparently made integral with an outer film.